Railroad-crossing.



' J. N. HALL & A. A. HODGSON.

RAILROAD CROSSING APPLICATION. FILED PBB ZI, 191 1.

Patented D6G.3,1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

a w m /L. [4/ 4 mwfl w a 6 4 W W A\ @\1 1 0 w W 4 2 b u J. N. HALL & A.A. HO'DGSON. RAILROAD CROSSING. APPLICATION FILED rmml, 1911.

{1,045,888. Patented Dec. 3, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JOHN N. HALL AND ARTHUR A. I-IODGSON, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1912.

Application filed February 21, 1911. Serial No. 610,034.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN N. HALL and ARTHUR A. HODGSON, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson andState of Missour have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailroad-Crossings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway crossings and our object is theproduction of a crossing which will ofler an unbroken support for thewheels and thus eliminate the element of danger arising from the passageof a train over broken rails or from injury to the wheels of a trainsustained by the pounding which occurs in the passage of a train over anordinary crossing possessing no unbroken support for the wheels.

A further object is to reduce the cost of maintenance at crossings.

Another object is to produce a crossing provided with rotatable pins atthe intersection points of cross rails, having recesses in their upperends for the reception of the flanges of the wheels of passing trains,and means whereby a train approaching the crossing of either trackwayshall rotatably adjust the said pins until the recesses of the same arealined with the flanges of the wheels of said train to permit the latterto pass over'the crossing with no injurious shock or jar. With thesegeneral objects in view and others as hereinafter appear, the inventionconsists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction andorganization as hereinafter described and claimed; and in order that itmay be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying draw-1 ings, in which- Figure 1, is a topplan view of a railway 5 crossingembodying our invention. Fig. 2, is an enlarged vertical section on theline IIII of Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a horizontal section on the line IIIII1of Fig. 2. Fig. 3 4;, is a side view of a rail equipped with 3 meansforming a part of the invention. Fig. 5, is a section on the line VV ofFig. 1.

In the said drawings, 1 and 2 indicate the rails of intersectingtrackways and jour- 5 naled in and connecting the rails of eacht-rackway are rock shafts 3 provided with depending arms 41: midwaybetween the rails and with crank arms 5, fitting against the IV outersides of the rails and projecting upwardly and toward the crossing.

6 are levers of any suitable length fitting flatly against the outersides of the rails and pivoted thereto as at 7. At their free ends thelevers preferably terminate in tongues 8, fitting within the keepers9,which serve to limit the upward movement imparted to the levers by theunderlying crank arms 5 and the downward movement of said crank arms.

10 indicates the crossing, the same preferably comprising cast-metalcross-shaped sections, each consisting of the alined arms 11 and alinedarms 12. The first-named arms are arranged to constitute connections forthe rails 1 at opposite sides of the crossing, and the arms 12constitute connections for the rails 2 at opposite sides of thecrossings, any suitable means, such as fish plates 1%, being employed tosecure the crossing sections in rigid relation to each other and to therails, it being also understood that the crossing will be mounted upon asuitable underlying support, not shown.

Each cross-shaped section is provided with a vertical bearing opening 13which for a depth exceeding that of the head or ball of the rails, isenlarged at 14, and the walls surrounding the enlarged portions 14 areprovided with diametrically opposite grooves 15, and diametricallyopposite grooves 16, the former being adapted to ac commodate theflanges of the'wheels running over the rails 1, and the grooves 16 theflanges of the wheels running over the track rails 2. Below theenlargement 14, each cross piece is provided with a recess 17, for apurpose which hereinafter appears.

18 are vertical pins j ournaled in openings 13 and provided with headsor enlargements 19, fitting rotatably in the enlargements 14 of saidopenings 13, and the heads of said pins are provided with recesses 20,of substantially the same depth as grooves 15 and 16, the recesses ofthe pins when the latter are in one position. of adjustment formingcontinuations of the grooves 15 and when disposed at right angles tosaid adjustments, continuations of the recesses 16. In the former case,the non-recessed portions of the heads form an unbroken continuation ofthe arms 11 and in the latter case, of the arms 12. The pins areprovided with slotted arms 21 projecting through the recesses 17 andslidably receiving screw bolts 22,1nountcrossing possessing the featuresof advan ed in the forked ends of crossed bars 23 pivotally mounted onpivot bolt 24:, carried by an underlying support or plate 25, bearing arigid relation to the trackway. Each cross bar at opposite sides of itspivotal point, is formed with an opening 26,through which extends pairsof pivot pins 27, and pivotally connected at their inner ends to saidpivot pins and to each other at their outer ends are pairs of links 28constituting toggles. The pivot pins 29 connecting the links together,are mounted in the forked ends 30 of rods 31 pivoted at their outer endsto the arms 4 depending from the rock shafts 3.

Assuming that the parts are arranged as shown in Fig. 1, it will beapparent that a train in traversing tracks 2 in either direction willpass over the crossing without affecting the operative mechanism thereofand that in such passage the flanges of the wheels will pass through thegrooves 16 and recesses 20, and the wheels will roll upon the upper endsof the pins 18 outward of their recesses 20, the upper ends of the pinsconstituting sections of a continuous support so that there will be noperceptible shock or jar incident to the passage of the train over thecrossing. The wheels at one side of a train traversing tracks 1 ineither direction will depress one of the levers 6, pivoted to rail 1,and thus rock shaft 3 and through the arm 4 thereof, the connected rod31 andthe links 28 connecting said rod with the bars. 23, rock thelatter to the position indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 1, the said barsthrough their pin and slot connections with arms 21, turning the pinsninety degrees, so that the recesses 20 of said pins shall be disposedin alinement with the recesses 15 at the inner sides of arms 11, toprovide an unbroken support for the wheels in passing over the crossing,the pins remaining in the position mentioned until returned to theiroriginal positions by another train traversing track .rails 2. When thebars 23 are rocked by the pull thereon of the links 28 directly linkedto the actuating rock-shaft, the opposite pair of. links is contractedto permit the other lever 6 of trackway 1 to drop and the remaining pairof links are expanded to simultaneously elevate the levers of trackway2, the depression of the last-named levers reelevating the levers ofrails 1, as will be readily understood.

While the drawings and description provide only for the automaticoperation of the pins by passing trains, it will be apparent that thepins may be rotated manually or otherwise. \Vhere the crossing is in arailroad yard it will frequently be found desirable to actuate the pinsfrom a switch tower.

From the above description it will be apparent that we have produced arailway tage enumerated as desirable and we wish it to be understoodthat while we have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment ofthe invention we do not wish to be restricted to the exact details ofconstruction shown and described as obvious modifications will suggestthemselves to one skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. In a railway crossing, a vertical pin journaled at each point ofintersection of the rails, and arranged with its upper end insubstantially the plane of the tops of the rails and provided with arecess in such end, crossed bars pivoted together centrally of thecrossing and pivotally connected at their outer ends to said pins, fourpairs of links pivotally connected at their inner ends to the crossedbars and each pair pivotally connected at their outer ends, and meansfor exerting an outward pull on either of said pairs of links to effectpivotal operation of said crossed bars and the simultaneous rotation ofall of the pins.

2. In a railway crossing, a vertical pin journaled at each point ofintersection of the rails, and arranged with its upper end insubstantially the plane of the tops of the rails and provided with arecess in such end, crossed bars pivoted together centrally of thecrossing and pivotally connected at their outer ends to said pins, andtrain-actuated means for pivotally operating said crossed bars inopposite directions simultaneously to rotate said pins a quarterrevolution.

3. In a railway crossing, a vertical pin journaled at each point ofintersection of the rails, and arranged with its upper end insubstantially the plane of the tops of the rails and provided with arecess in such end, crossed bars pivoted together centrally of thecrossing and pivotally connected at their outer ends to said pins,levers pivoted to each trackway at opposite sides of the crossing, andmeans actuated by the depression of either of said levers for operatingsaid crossed bars and reversing the positions of said pins.

4. In a railway crossing, a vertical pin journaled at each point ofintersection of the rails, and arranged with its upper end insubstantially the plane of the tops of the rails and provided with arecess in such end, crossed bars pivoted together centrally of thecrossing and pivotally connected at their outer ends to said pins,levers pivoted to each trackway at opposite sides of the crossing, andmeans whereby the depression of one of the levers of one of thetrackways shall. operate said crossed bars and reverse the positions ofsaid pins and at the same time eifect the elevation of the levers of theother trackway.

5. In a railway crossing a vertical pin journaled at each point ofintersection of the rails and arranged With its upper end insubstantially the plane of the tops of the rails and provided With arecess in such end, crossed bars pivoted together centrally of thecrossing and pivotally connected at their outer ends to said pins,levers pivoted to each trackway at opposite sides of the crossing,rock-shafts for each trackway at opposite sides of the crossing, eachprovided With an arm engaging the underside of the adjacentlever andwith another arm, a rod pivotally connected at its outer end to each ofthe last-named arms, and a pair of links pivotally connected at theirouter ends to each of said rods and pivotally connected at their innerends to said crossed levers.

In testimony whereof We afiiX our signatures, in the presence of twoWitnesses.

JOHN N. HALL. ARTHUR A. HODGSON. Witnesses:

HELEN C. RODGERS, G. Y. THORPE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

